Toner container

ABSTRACT

In one example, a toner container has an interior volume defined by a body and a pair of wings extending up and out from the body.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a divisional application of U.S. national application Ser. No.14/391,399 filed Oct. 9, 2014, which is itself a 35 U.S.C. 371 nationalstage filing of international application serial no. PCT/US2012/040914filed Jun. 5, 2012, both of which applications are incorporated hereinby reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

The printing process used in many laser printers and other suchelectro-photographic printers involves creating a latent electrostaticimage on a photoconductor and depositing toner on the surface of thephotoconductor. The toner adheres to the imaged areas of thephotoconductor to form a developed image that is transferred to paper oranother print substrate. The toner supply is usually contained in areplaceable cartridge that sometimes also houses the photoconductor andother image development components of the printer.

DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a multifunction laser printingdevice implementing one example of a new toner container.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are front and side section views, respectively, showingthe toner container and MFP (multifunction printing device) of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a detail perspective view of a toner container such as the oneshown in the MFP of FIGS. 1-3.

FIG. 5 is a front section view showing another example of the new tonercontainer in an MFP.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are side and front section views, respectively, showinganother example of the new toner container in an MFP.

The section views have been simplified in some instances to betterillustrate certain features, for example by omitting some cross-hatchingand background structures. The same part numbers are used to designatethe same or similar parts throughout the figures.

DESCRIPTION

A new toner container has been developed to increase the toner supplycapacity in some laser printers and multifunction laser printing devices(MFPs) without also increasing the size of the device. Examples of thenew toner container utilize otherwise unoccupied spaces within theprinter housing and, for some examples, within the scanner housing foran MFP, to expand toner supply capacity while minimizing the size of thedevice. In some examples, the new toner container has sufficientcapacity to eliminate the need for the user to replace the originaltoner container. In such examples, the toner container may be configuredas a non-removable component integrated into the printer or MFPstructure as a load bearing member and/or as part of the exterior.

Some examples of the new toner container facilitate the implementationof a printer use model in which printing capacity may be purchasedincrementally, as desired, to help the user control printing costs. Inthese examples, the same toner container may be used for both fixed pagecount printers in which only the amount of toner needed to satisfy thefixed page count is supplied with the printer, or for variable pagecount printers in which the user may purchase access to additionalprinting capacity using toner originally supplied with the printer.

Examples of the new toner container will be described with reference toan MFP that includes a scanner and a laser printer. Examples of the newtoner container, however, are not limited to MFPs or laser printers.Examples might also be implemented in other types ofelectro-photographic printers and MFPs. The examples shown in thefigures and described below illustrate but do not limit the invention,which is defined in the Claims following this Description.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a multifunction laser printingdevice (MFP) 10 implementing one example of a new toner container 12.FIGS. 2 and 3 are front and side section views, respectively, showingtoner container 12 and MFP 10 from FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a detailperspective view of a toner container 12 such as the one shown in MFP 10in FIGS. 1-3. Referring to FIGS. 1-4, MFP 10 includes a housing 14 thatsupports the operative components of MFP. Housing 14 representsgenerally load bearing and other supporting structures in MFP 10 as wellas the exterior features of the MFP. A printer 16 is housed in a lowerpart 18 of MFP housing 14 and a scanner 20 is housed in an upper part 22of MFP housing 18.

In a typical laser printer a uniform surface charge is applied to aphotoconductor and then the photoconductor is exposed to a light thatdischarges the photoconductor in select areas to define a latentelectrostatic image on the photoconductor. The latent image is developedby depositing toner on the surface of the photoconductor. The toneradheres to the imaged areas of the photoconductor to form a developedimage that is transferred to paper or another print substrate. Thus, andreferring specifically to FIG. 3, printer 16 includes a photoconductorroller 24 that has a photoconductive surface on which the latent imageis formed and the toner image is developed, a charging roller 26 forapplying a uniform surface charge to photoconductor 24, a laser or othersuitable light source 28 for discharging photoconductor 24 in thedesired pattern, and a developer roller 30 for applying toner tophotoconductor 24. Although the photoconductive element 24, the chargingdevice 26, and the developer unit 30 are shown as rollers, othersuitable mechanisms or configurations for each component may be used.The configuration of printer 16 in FIG. 2 illustrates just one exampleconfiguration for the operative elements of an electro-photographicprinter. Although the configuration of printer 16 in FIG. 3 represents amonochrome printer, examples of the new toner container might also beimplemented in a color printer.

Referring again specifically to FIG. 3, a sheet of paper or other printsubstrate is picked from a stack 32 and fed along a substrate print path34 from an input tray 36 to an output tray 38. Each sheet is picked fromstack 32 and fed along print path 34 using, for example, a pick roller40, feed rollers 42 and output rollers 44. Toner is applied to eachsheet as it passes between photoconductor 24 and a transfer roller 46.For a dry toner electro-photographic printing process, the toner isaffixed to the sheet as it passes through a nip between fusing rollers48 which apply heat and pressure simultaneously to the print substrate.

Referring now specifically to FIG. 2, scanner 20 includes an automaticdocument feeder 50 through which sheets are moved along a U-shaped scanpath 52, for example using feed rollers 53, from an input tray 54, overa transparent platen 56, to an output tray 58. A light bar or othersuitable light source 60 in an imaging unit 62 illuminates the sheet asit passes over platen 62. The images reflected off the sheet are captureby a light sensor 64.

In the configuration shown in FIGS. 1-4, toner container 12 defines agenerally U-shaped interior volume 66 from which fresh toner is suppliedto developer roller 30. As shown in FIG. 3, a rotating paddle 68 may beused to sweep toner up to developer roller 30. Printer 16 may alsoinclude a cleaning blade 70 that scrapes residual toner off the rotatingphotoconductor 24 into a waste toner container 72. As best seen in FIGS.2 and 4, the U-shaped interior volume 66 of toner container 12 isdefined by an inboard, body part 74 of container 12 and a pair ofoutboard, tower parts 76 of container 12 at each side of body 74. In theexample shown, each tower 76 is wing-shaped, extending up and out frombody 74. As used herein, “tower” means part of the toner container ishigher than the body. Thus, toner container 12 may be characterized ashaving interconnected lower and upper chambers 74 and 76. Lowerchamber/body 74 lies below laser 28 and imaging light path 78 andextends from near photoconductor 24 at the rear of printer 16 forward tothe front of printer 16. The floor 80 of each upper chamber/tower 76slopes down (front to rear) and in (side to side) to help toner movefrom each upper chamber 76 to lower chamber 74.

The wings 76 of toner container 12 in the MFP 10 shown in FIGS. 1-3occupy spaces that would remain largely unoccupied in a conventionalMFP. Although examples of the new toner container might also beimplemented in a single function printer, a toner container 12 such asthat shown in the figures takes advantage of otherwise empty spacescreated when printer and scanner housings are combined in amultifunction device, and thus the new toner container is particularlywell suited for use in MFPs.

In the example shown FIGS. 2 and 3, toner container 12 is integratedinto printer housing 18 as part of the load bearing structure andexterior of housing 18. In another example, shown in FIG. 5, each wing76 extends up into the scanner space and forms part of a unitary MFPhousing 14, as best seen by comparing the interface between printer 16and scanner 20 in FIGS. 2 and 5. The example of FIG. 5 may beadvantageous for some MFP devices to further expand the capacity oftoner container 12 and/or where a unitary housing configuration isdesired. In another example, shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, toner container 12is configured as a discrete part inside printer housing 18. The exampleof FIGS. 6 and 7 may be desirable in some MFP devices, for example tofacilitate manufacturing the toner container separately from the printerhousing.

For lower print volume MFPs 10, an enlarged toner container 12 such asthat shown in the figures can have sufficient capacity to store enoughtoner to print a minimum number of pages that corresponds to apredetermined expected useful life of the printer part of an MFP 10(printer 16 in the figures). “Predetermined” in this context means adetermination of expected useful life made before the printer is putinto service, for example by the manufacturer as part of thespecifications for the printer. In one example for a laser printer MFPdesigned for personal and small business use, the predetermined expecteduseful life of the printer may be about 30,000 printed pages. Theconfiguration of toner container 12 in FIGS. 1-7 used in an MFP likethat shown could easily store enough toner to print 30,000 pages, thussupplying toner for printing throughout the predetermined expecteduseful life of a printer 16 in MFP 10.

As noted at the beginning of this Description, the examples shown in thefigures and described above illustrate but do not limit the invention.Other examples, embodiments and implementations are possible. Therefore,the foregoing description should not be construed to limit the scope ofthe invention, which is defined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A toner container, comprising a U-shaped interiorvolume that includes a lower chamber and an upper chamber on each sideof the lower chamber, and wherein: each of the upper chambers is definedin part by a floor that slopes in toward the lower chamber from side toside; the lower chamber lies below an imaging light path in a printerand extends from near a photoconductor at a rear of the printer forwardto a front of the printer; the lower chamber is defined by a body; eachof the upper chambers is defined by a tower connected to the body; andthe body and towers are integrated into a printer housing as anon-removable load bearing structure.
 2. A toner container, comprising aU-shaped interior volume that includes a lower chamber and an upperchamber on each side of the lower chamber, and wherein: each of theupper chambers is defined in part by a floor that slopes in toward thelower chamber from side to side; the lower chamber lies below an imaginglight path in a printer and extends from near a photoconductor at a rearof the printer forward to a front of the printer; the lower chamber isdefined by a body; each of the upper chambers is defined by a towerconnected to the body; and the body and towers are discrete parts insidea printer housing.